A.M. Breakups

The Cant Resurrection opens innocently enough with simple but catchy instrumental "Chapter 1," with the song then slowly incorporating glitchy elements, plus beeps and blips, into the proceedings. That track, and most of the instrumentals (which make up more than half of this producer album), are a mix, in varying ratios, of mellow electronica and glitchy hip-hop, flowing between the sounds of Def Jux and Mush. The instrumentals are decent enough fare, with the creepy, cello-heavy "Hearts" an easy highlight, but the songs that truly stand out are the collaborations with MCs. The beats for those tracks are often the most kinetic and exciting. Billy Woods of Super Chron Flight Bros (a group A.M. Breakups have worked with in the past) steals the show with a mid-song appearance, reminiscing in laidback mode on otherwise instrumental downer "Forms," then later wrecking shop alongside frequent A.M. Breakups collaborator Eleven over an epic, buzzing beat for "Chapter 2." Eleven (who makes the most appearances: three) is at his best on chaotic album highlight "Dreams" with V8, but "Machine Gun Etiquette," with Teddy Faley, and "Low Bombing," with V8 and cuts from Shortrock, similarly and successfully use abstract poetics over barely restrained layers of music. The Cant Resurrection is definitely a leftfield rap album that should impress fans of glitchy, abstract rap and chill-out room electronica. Both are done well, but may have been better served separated into vocal and instrumental albums.